VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog
Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure Damian CarringtonEnvironment editor the Giardian Thu 3 Apr 2025 The climate crisis is on track to destroy capitalism, a top insurer has warned, with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial…
Read MoreIs the AI juice worth the carbon squeeze?
Image source: Deloitte Data centers’ thirst for energy looms as the next big climate provocation By Mark Harris in Anthropocene When the laptop company Compaq popularized the term “cloud computing” in the 1990s, it did the tech industry a cumulonimbus-sized favor. Clouds are nebulous and ethereal, mere wisps in an infinite sky. Data centers are…
Read MoreHosting the UN climate summit is far from ‘madness’ – here’s how Australia stands to benefit
Wesley Morgan March 31, 2025 in The Conversation Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would withdraw Australia’s bid to co-host next year’s global climate summit if the Coalition wins the federal election. Australia has lobbied hard for the right to host the talks, known as COP31, in…
Read MoreCan the oceans help in slowing climate change?
New experiments suggest that the ocean could hold the key to slowing down climate change. Marine carbon dioxide removal has been tested in waters from North America to New Zealand, but as Veronica Lenard reports, the full potential of the technology is not yet clear. SBS podcast Listen to Australian and world news and follow…
Read MoreA quiet shift: The grid is being redefined by household consumers who no longer need it full time
Geoff Eldridge in Renew Economy Mar 27, 2025 Australia’s energy system is often framed through generation mix, investment levels, or large-scale reform. But a quieter change is unfolding — not through policy, but household behaviour. With rising adoption of rooftop solar, batteries, and electric vehicles, households are gradually altering their relationship with the grid. This…
Read MoreInteractive guide to electorates in the 2025 Australian election: from safe to marginal
Familiarise yourself with the state of play ahead of the election with the Guardian data-driven electorate guide See all Guardian Australian election 2025 coverage Andy Ball, Josh Nicholas and Nick Evershed Fri 28 Mar 2025 Electorates to watch Bennelong Labor narrowly won Bennelong in 2022, but boundary changes have made it notionally a Liberal marginal. One…
Read MoreHere’s how low- and middle-income countries will be the leaders of a better, more sustainable future
by Ruthie Burrows, Ph.D. MARCH 21, 2025 in Project Drawdown Climate change is affecting communities around the world, threatening human health and well-being. However, neither the impacts of climate change nor its causes are equally distributed across populations. High-income countries bear the primary responsibility for climate change. In 2023, China, the United States, India, and…
Read MoreInvertebrate of the year – no it’s not a politician!
From the Guardian newsletter by Patrick Barkham I can’t help but resort to competition cliches with our invertebrate of the year shortlist. Every one of these animals is a winner. So far, we’ve revealed two creatures that may cause some to recoil. The tongue-biting louse (Cymothoa exigua) finds a fish, burrows through the gills, devours…
Read MoreTackling climate crisis will increase economic growth, OECD research finds
Graph: Burke, M., Hsiang, S. & Miguel, E. Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production. Nature 527, 235–239 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15725 Tackling climate crisis will increase economic growth, OECD research finds Third of global GDP could be lost this century if climate crisis runs unchecked, says report Fiona Harvey Environment editor Guardian Wed 26 Mar 2025 …
Read MoreEngineers turn sewage sludge into fuel and feed
IMage: Integrated fractionation and upgrading of WAS with simultaneous green hydrogen generation. Credit: Nature Water (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00329-z Scientists have developed a solar-powered method to convert solid waste into valuable green hydrogen and animal feed. By Anthropocene Team March 20, 2025 With a new solar-powered method that converts sewage sludge into green hydrogen fuel and…
Read MoreWe won’t fix global, unless we talk local : learnings from TC Alfred
Image: https://egin.org.uk/what-is-community-climate-action/ from Community Council for Australia 13 March 2025 Over the last week most us will have checked in with friends and family in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. With four million battening down, schools closed, evacuation centres open and the ADF on standby, most Australians knew someone in the uncertain path of…
Read MoreBye-bye microplastics: new plastic is recyclable and fully ocean-degradable
Image: Cheng et al. (2024) Mechanically strong yet metabolizable multivalently form a cross-linked network structure by desalting upon phase separation. Science. doi: 10.1126/science.ado1782 Riken press Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) have developed a durable plastic that won’t contribute to microplastic pollution in our oceans. The new…
Read MoreShould Australia rethink its high population growth model? It’s one of many challenges, report says
By business reporter Gareth Hutchens in ABC news Topic:Economic Trends and Indicators Thursday 13 March Over the past 20 years, Australia’s population has grown by 35 per cent. The OECD average is 13 per cent. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi) In summary: Researchers say the geopolitical landscape has shifted dramatically in the last three years. They…
Read MoreHere’s why Australia should build more smaller houses rather than fewer big ones
Graph: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/ Peter Mares If we’re serious about tackling the housing crisis and boosting productivity in the home building industry, we need to rethink our planning rules Thu 13 Mar 2025 in The Guardian Walking past a building site in Sydney recently, I was struck by the pitch for the new homes under construction. “Outrageously…
Read MoreClimate action must be a priority, not a casualty, of defense spending
Graph: https://www.transcend.org/tms/2019/10/at-716-billion-the-us-military-budget-is-bigger-than-those-of-144-countries-combined-and-largest-contributor-to-climate-change/ Countries ramping up military budgets must also strengthen climate efforts or risk more conflict in the future, warns Ana Toni, Brazil’s chief executive of the Cop30 summit. EHN news summary In short: Ana Toni argues that climate change fuels inequality and poverty, which can lead to future wars, making climate action a key…
Read MoreWhy young men’s votes are increasingly tilting right.
Graph related to article below: Shorrocks, R. (2018). Cohort Change in Political Gender Gaps in Europe and Canada: The Role of Modernization. Politics & Society, 46(2), 135-175. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329217751688 (Original work published 2018) Commentary from Guardian UK editor in chief Katharine Viner Since a majority of American men aged 18-30 voted for Donald Trump last November,…
Read MoreUK hoping to work with China to counteract Trump’s climate-hostile policies
Graph from ECIU report The future is green: The economic opportunities brought by the UK’s net zero economy Ed Miliband visits Beijing as part of plan to create global axis working in favour of climate action Ed Miliband: ‘The global battle against the climate crisis needs China’ Fiona Harvey Environment editor Fri 14 Mar 2025…
Read MoreStopping Deforestation is an Emergency Brake Solution
Figure 1. Breakdown of Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Deforestation accounts for about 11% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. This is a significant driver of climate change, accounting for more emissions than the entire United States economy. Climate change is more than smokestacks and tailpipes. While the use of polluting fossil fuels is the biggest…
Read MoreCan the world farm more seafood with less impact?
Extended Data Fig. 2: Global distribution of CIM in 2050 under the best-case and worst-case scenarios under RCP 4.5. (a) best-case scenario estimated at the global scale, (b) worst-case scenario estimated at the global scale From: Strategic planning could reduce farm-scale mariculture impacts on marine biodiversity while expanding seafood production A new study says the answer…
Read MoreIs climate persuasion a fool’s errand?
Graph Source: GMU Center for Climate Change Communication Climate psychology has come a long way. And it has a long way to go By Mark Harris It happens every day. A friend or colleague talks enthusiastically about buying a new gas car, or shivers theatrically on a chilly day and says: “So much for global…
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